Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster
A wrecking earthquake struck the Eastern coast of Japan on March 11, 2011 generating the biggest recorded tsunami in the contemporary history of Japan. The earthquake took place in an area prone to massive earthquakes and tsunamis. Through the Richter scale, the formed seismic waves weighed 9.0 (Pfatteicher 67). The tsunami spread across the Pacific Ocean several hours following the catastrophe. The wreaking earthquake and its successive foreshocks led to massive deaths and destruction as cars, houses and boats got swept away due to the magnitude of the tsunami. According to seismologists, the March 2011 disaster was the worst disaster recorded in the Japan history. Besides the ravaging damages, the tremor and its ensuing tsunami destroyed three leading nuclear reactors at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Numerous electrical generators got damaged leading to explosion of the reactors of the nuclear plant. Thousands of families got displaced after implementation of forceful evacuation of people who were 20 kilometers around the nuclear plant. Reacting to the devastating volcanic activity, the United States government requested for evacuation of its citizens living 80 kilometers around the nuclear power plant.
Question 1
Two days after the earthquake, the country experienced several foreshocks. The tremor spawned a massive tsunami that led to destruction of many facilities. Government geologists claimed that the consequent tsunami that resulted from the earthquake held an average height of seven meters and a speed of approximately 5000mph. notwithstanding the heavy instruments in the Japanese coastal protection projects, the nation’s coastal areas were the worst hit by the adversity (Pfatteicher 67). From reliable sources, the Fukushima nuclear reactors meltdown took places a few days following the earthquake. Numerous hours after the tremor, the wreaking tsunami, swept away diesel generators running the system of cooling in the nuclear power plant. The cooling system of the reactors broke down. The investigating committee on the earthquake confirmed that there was a breakdown in the reactors’ cooling systems after the quake. It is apparent that the breakdown triggered the meltdown. In fact, cooling water pipes broke a few hours after the tremor. As a result, there was no cooling of the reactors taking place. The employees of the Fukushima nuclear power plant witnessed the pipes busting. This led to substantial damage to the cooling system of the reactors making the meltdown unavoidable.
A few days after the earthquake, the international newspapers alleged that the tremor as opposed to the tsunami triggered the Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown. Reacting to these allegations, the government of Japan denied and claimed that the reports in the media were unconfirmed. The spokesperson of the Tokyo Electric Power Company in response to the claims by the international media ascertained that the tsunami that followed the earthquake destroyed the facility.
Question 2
After the upshot of the Daiichi nuclear power plant calamity, reports indicated that reactors one, two and three experienced an absolute meltdown. The leading hitch that caused the meltdown of the first reactors, did not affect the other three reactors (4, 5, and 6). This is because there was an alteration in the arrangement of the cooling system. In the last phase of the building procedure, the cooling pipes moved from the power plant to a low region that discontinued the cooling when the earthquake struck. Injecting water from the sea into the reactors were the preliminary efforts made to bring to an end the meltdown. This attempt led to more damages to the first three reactors in the power plant. However, in the course of the rescue process, reactors four, five and six remained intact (Pfatteicher 12). Prior to the earthquake, these reactors were not functional. In fact, reactor four was under maintenance process, and the process warranted the removal of its fuel rods. As a result, reactor four remained unaffected by the earthquake due to the absence of its fuel rods. The fuel rods of reactors five and six experienced partial damaged from the calamity. The three undamaged reactors remain under close examination to prevent additional damages.
Question 3
The March 2011 earthquake and its successive tsunami instigated economic, ethical and social changes in the country. Until now, Japan struggles to offset the upshots of the earthquake. The government and citizens of Japan had trouble during and after the calamity that led to massive destruction and deaths. With respect to records provided by the National Police of Japan, approximately twelve thousand persons lost their lives during the natural calamity. The reports also indicate that over twenty thousand persons went missing. In addition, the earth tremor caused displacement of thousands of people. Over 150, 000 persons went through forceful evacuations from their dwellings to safer places (Lillo 34). Tohoku Electric Power Company ascertained that scores of houses in the region remained without electricity for a number of days. The ministry of health also confirmed that more than a few houses remained without water for a number of days. Several buildings got destroyed with some getting burnt while tsunami washed away buildings in the region.
Economists linked to the government of Japan estimated that the country lost over sixteen to twenty five trillion Yen after the March 2011 disaster. Economic actions such as fishing, industrialization and farming, discontinued for some days. The cabinet office of Japan stated that the general damage to the infrastructure totaled to 44 billion dollars. This included damage to roadways, railways and other hubs of transportation. Seventy six percent of the country’s highways remained closed because of damage with high-speed rail network suspending its operations. The disaster significantly affected trade in the country as well as the international supply chain (Lillo 45). More significantly, the nuclear reactors’ meltdown compelled the government of Japan to increase funds for its refurbishment. More to the point, the Japanese currency, experienced fluctuations against the U.S dollar following the calamity. The government expenditure increased with the government of Japan using a considerable amount of money for post earthquake reconstruction process and relief food and support. The intense upshots instigated setting up of a management committee that would foresee activities that would prevent deaths prompted by natural calamities.
Question 4
Following the March 2011 disaster in Japan, the government of Japan acknowledged that poor nuclear regulations, human negligence and natural disaster played a leading role in the nuclear power tragedy (Pfatteicher 12). The nuclear regulatory authorities provided inadequate measures to prevent effects of natural calamities such as earthquakes and tsunami. However, in the international arena, the authorities in Japan received their fair share of accusations for the manner they responded to the catastrophe. The authorities received blames with respect to the way they under took the process of evacuation. In case of an accident in nuclear power plants across the globe, only people living within a five-kilometer radius undergo evacuations. During the Fukushima Daiichi, the vacation zones were between 20 and 30km. What is more, the international fraternity remained discontented with the fact that Japanese authorities denied the citizens vital information regarding the nuclear tragedy. Chances were that the Fukushima nuclear mishap was a resultant of natural disaster, human negligence and insufficient measures from the scientific authorities governing nuclear power plants (Pfatteicher 12).
The taskforce that investigated the disaster claimed that the government and the nuclear power plant operator, failed in providing efficient humanitarian response. The taskforce team indicted the nuclear power plant regulatory bodies for not implementing adequate safety measures. Because of inadequate safety measures and its location in earthquakes and tsunami prone region, the nuclear facility remained unprepared to resist intensive natural disasters. However, the taskforce teams confirmed that inapt response led to escalation of the damage caused by the nuclear power plant (Pfatteicher 12). The stakeholders became reluctant in offering extra protection when calamities of such magnitude occur because to some extent, the disaster was unavoidable and unchangeable. The nuclear operator never violated any nuclear regulatory measures making the disaster “an act of God” because the incident that triggered the meltdown was the earthquake, a natural disaster.
Nuclear plant engineers also had a hand in the disaster. This is because of the locating the power plant in an earthquake and tsunami prone zone as well as the inadequate measures provided by the international nuclear regulatory authority. For instance, the initial designs of the nuclear power plant could only withstand lower values of Ritcher scale (Petroski 45). The tsunami height was about 10 meters higher than the approximated in the design of the plant. This triggered widescale flooding. The regulators of nuclear power need to enhance the design of power plants to avoid such accidents. Measures of how the nuclear power plant should respond in the event of power failure lacked. Moreover, measures regarding how hydrogen should be transported following core destruction are not clear. In addition, measures to protect fuel stored in used fuel pools remain unclear. In this regard, the nuclear power disaster was because of a natural disaster, nuclear power designs, human negligence and partly inadequate safety measures as provided in the international nuclear regulatory bodies.
Question 5
Although the committee investigating the Fukushima power plant disaster blames the Japanese culture, the culture of the nuclear power plant triggered further damages after the March 2011 earthquake in Japan. Engineers in nuclear power plant can prevent such an occurrence through implementing suitable nuclear safety measures to avoid such a disaster. This calls for an increase in safety measures by the scientific authorities. The reaction of nuclear power plant to critical external occurrences requires responsiveness (Pfatteicher 67). There is a need to implement nuclear regulator to enhance designs of power plants in preventing and mitigating accidents. The manner in which nuclear power plants reacts to integrated initiating hazards such as tsunamis and earthquakes, and how the plants handle cliff-edge effects of abnormal behavior of the nuclear plant, should be confirmed.
Nuclear plant operators should have the potential to handle or control on-site accidents and engineers should put up strategies, measures to ensure that a defense-in-depth when the power plant loses its safety functions, and electrical system strength. The safety should cover all facilities producing nuclear power. Nuclear regulatory authorities should ensure building of safe nuclear facilities. The International Atomic Agency should regularly inspect and service the nuclear power plant facilities to ensure their safety and functionality. Appropriate supervision is also crucial aspect. Had the Fukushima nuclear power plant operator employed suitable supervision, the nuclear disaster could not have taken place. This is with respect to the plant location as the power plant’s location is in an earthquake and tsunami prone area. The Japanese nuclear reactors must put up safety measures to prevent the occurrence of nuclear power linked disasters in the coming years (Pfatteicher 12). Formation of an independent regulatory body with the mandate to check all nuclear functions in the country is crucial. The government should only allow operation of nuclear power plants that can resist high-level flood and those, which can implement optional energy sources for operating the cooling systems when there is a power failure, or black out (Petroski 45).
Vetting of nuclear operators is also essential, as it will ensure that the operators adhere to global safety standards. More importantly, the country should redefine its disaster management system to guarantee appropriate responses. In the present, environmental engineers are advising the government to take on, greener technologies, as opposed to nuclear energy. In solidarity with the environmental engineers, the government ordered the shutting down of the Hamaoka nuclear power plant besides stopping plans directed to construction of additional nuclear power plants in the country. The government announced its intention to stop its reliance on nuclear energy. The country is now switching to renewable energy sources (Lillo 23). Engineers must uphold engineering ethics through strict following of code of conducts to guarantee safety at work measures. If engineers can abide by ethical codes, most disaster of such nature possibly will end (Lillo 56).
Work Cited
Lillo, De. White Power. New York: Penguin classic, 2011. Print.
Petroski. To Forgive Design. New York: Havard, 2009. Print.
Pfatteicher. Lessons Amid the Rubble. New York: John Hopkins, 2011. Print.
